


Birds Sing

by Shrimprave



Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Beetlebabes Stay The Fuck Away, Birds!!, Content, Even when happy Beetlejuice deserves a hug, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Juno is mentioned, Mention of Character Death, Platonic Relationships, The Whole Being Dead And Then Alive For A Few Seconds And Then Dead Again Thing, This feels rushed so I'm sorry, roof scene, subtle angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:46:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23274982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shrimprave/pseuds/Shrimprave
Summary: Just Beetlejuice being content on the roof and Lydia coming up to bother him.
Relationships: Beetlejuice & Lydia Deetz
Comments: 16
Kudos: 77





	Birds Sing

**Author's Note:**

> Beetlejuice has yellow, slitted eyes and pointy ears!! Just a hc but still uwu

It came as a surprise to everyone that Beetlejuice kept his more humanly changes after he got stabbed and killed by Lydia. For one, he had always felt emotion, but it was like hearing underwater. Murky. Unclear. Faintly realizing you were probably drowning. Now that was different. Though, perhaps that may have something to do with being brought up in the Netherworld with Juno for a mother. Maybe he was just good at repressing emotions better before.

Being alive for a few seconds changed him. Really changed him. Not only were his emotions coming on so much stronger now, but so were his senses. He was feeling things at a deeper level than pain and fear and abandonment. He could hear the sounds of the world without it sounding tuned out, without having to put his entire focus on something as simple as fully hearing. He let his emotions of hundreds of years finally catch up to him. Beej had changed in a way that let him truly bask in the little things in his not-life.

Murder really was a wake up call. 

After coming back and managing to live with the Deetz and the Maitlands he found the roof was the perfect place to appreciate the world around him. As of now he was exactly there, resting on his back with his arms behind his head, a finger idly tapping his arm, floating just an inch or so above the tiles of the roof itself. His eyes were facing the sky, his pupil's tiny slits that barely contrasted with the bright yellow that was his iris', looking at nothing in particular. For now he was simply listening.

There was the soft, delicate sound of wind chimes, the crunchy rustling of fall leaves below, the occasional passing car. Squirrels raced across the tree branches and the birds sang. And that was just in the Deetz/Maitland household area. All of the noises made his skin prickly in a wonderful feeling that he couldn't quite place. 

He had taken a liking to the sing-song voices of those feathered little creatures. Birds had been the first thing he heard when he became alive, and it was one of the best things in the world, he thought. It was weird how he could link a good thing to that pandemonium of a time.

Beside him, something clacked against the shingles. When he turned his head, a few feet away from him was a small bird. It was an extraordinarily bright yellow, it's wings and a spot on it's head a deep black. Faintly, he wondered if the color of it's feathers and his eyes were one in the same. The thing didn't notice him, and for once he didn't mind not being seen. Beej watched in intent silence as it hopped around, and listened to every click of its feet against the roof. He could almost feel the tiny vibrations moving through the air.

And so he sat there for however long, listening to the bird that was so close to him. That was until he heard a different type of click, and he startled, flailing his arms out and falling down completely to the roof. When he hastily sat up and turned there was Lydia, holding a camera and snickering. And to think he thought he could sneak up here to be alone. 

"Delete that," He said quickly.

"Oh, no way. I'm printing it and showing it to everyone," Lydia replied.

"Lydia," Beetlejuice groaned, flopping back on the roof. "That picture will ruin the whole facade I've built."

"Awww, but you looked so peaceful."

"Absolutely destroyed. My entire character is ruined."

"You'll get over it."

"But I already had my redemption arc when I saved you guys with Sandy," He whined, "I don't want another tender moment." 

"You're living with us now, and 'tender moment' is, like, Delia's whole thing. Also I'm surprised you didn't eat that," Lydia said, shrugging and then motioning to the little yellow bird as it flew off.

"I thought about it." Beej grinned as Lydia grimaced.

"Ew."

"They're very crunchy. The feathers are annoying though."

"Beej that's disgusting."

"You eat chicken. And turkey. Same thing, but smaller, and feathery, and-"

"-and more alive," Lydia interjected.

"Hey! I didn't eat it, though. Just thought about it," He said, raising his eyebrows at his very-not-good point.

"Should that make me feel better about it?"

"It makes me feel better about it."

"You probably don't think twice about it."

"Yeah-" he shrugged- "you're right."

Lydia rolled her eyes and walked over to where Beetlejuice was sitting. She looked out to the front of the house for a moment before looking down at BJ. "So what're you doing on the roof other than stalking the birds? And we have food in the kitchen."

"Just.. sittin' 'ere," He responded. "The food in the kitchen sucks."

"Maybe because you're supposed to cook most of the food in the kitchen. We have those sour gummy worms you like if all else fails."

"I do like those," Beej said almost reminiscently.

"Anything interesting on the roof? Since you're 'just sitting here' and it doesn't look like you're sulking or wallowing in self pity."

"Low blow."

"You gonna answer me?"

Beetlejuice groaned again and dramatically flopped back against the roof. "You'd never believe me."

"You do some pretty unbelievable things and you are literally a demon. Hit me," Lydia challenged.

"Relaxing."

"Oh. Oh, yeah that's kind of impossible to imagine."

"Come on, I was joking! It can't be that hard to think even I can relax," BJ said, scoffing when Lydia raised her eyebrows in questioning. "Is it really that hard to imagine?"

"You have the personality of a feral alley cat that accidentally found a dead drug dealer's old stash of acid and cocaine that's probably contaminated," Lydia drawled.

"Point taken."

"Although, I never took you as the type to birdwatch. It seems like the type of thing Adam and Barbara would do that you would call them boring for."

"I like birds," Beej said defensively.

"You just talked about wanting to eat it."

"You said you were surprised I didn't."

"Are you trying to avoid the conversation?"

"Are you?"

Lydia chuckled and shook her head, finally sitting down criss-cross on the roof beside Beetlejuice. She knew Beej had the conversation avoiding skills of the century, and sometimes there was no point in pushing for more than he was willing to give up. "If it doesn't bother you, we could birdwatch together?" She proposed, holding up her camera, "I could get some pictures for my scrapbook."

"No more pictures of me?" Beej asked suspiciously.

"Not unless you want me to," Lydia promised.

"Hm," Beetlejuice hummed and squinted at her. Just barely, Lydia could make out his pupils dilating from the mild shade. "Fine, but I'm holding you to that."

"Maybe we should come up here more often and just sit. You know, without all the sobbing on your behalf," Lydia said, throwing a sly look the demons way.

"I'm really starting to think you came up here to make fun of me," He scoffed.

"You are very fun to make fun of," She confirmed, poking at the pointed end of his ear.

BJ slapped her hand away and gave her a glare. It held no heat and soon dissipated and was replaced by a toothy grin. "Can I see your camera?" He asked, impulsively holding out his hand as if it was more of a demand. Rest assured, it was not.

Lydia gave him a skeptical glance. She was just insulting him after all. Her camera would never survive a trip to the ground if he decided to toss it. Although, she doubted he would do that to her so she hesitantly took the strap over her neck and held it out to him.

Beej quickly snatched up the machinery and popped up on his feet. Literally. In a poof of smoke he was standing up from where he was just an instant ago on the shingles. "Don't roll your eyes too hard, Scarecrow. They'll fall out. Is that what you breathers say? Ah, whatever. Face the road," He said, all at once and maybe a little too quick.

"What are you doing?" She asked, bemused, but she complied and faced the road, leaning back on her arms, palms pressing against the roughness of the roof.

"Taking a picture," Beetlejuice replied, serious in a way that indicated he was probably focusing.

"For what?"

"Your scrapbook? Also payback for scaring the shit out of me. You know I'm glad your camera has the little symbols, too. The tiny letters are too hard to read. Seriously who can read that small?"

Lydia snorted, but situated herself for a better picture. For a minute there was silence on both ends, then, just as she was about to turn and ask BJ if he even knew how to work the camera, there was that familiar click.

"Ooo, this is nice. You never told me photography was so fun!" Beej exclaimed, bringing the camera away from his face to look at the picture better. He sat down again and pressed the camera excitedly into Lydia's hands, positively bouncing as he waited for her to say something.

"Wow you actually did really good? How many times have you used a camera like this without me knowing?"

"I've used your camera once without you knowing. You left it on your bed and went to school and I got bored," He shrugged. "Do you like it?" He asked, almost like a kindergartener showing their parents a drawing they did at school that day. 

"Hell yeah."

"Yes!"

Lydia chuckled and sat her camera to the side for a moment, both of them taking in the view again. The wind wound up again and brushed past them, making her somewhat short hair go in a frenzy in her face. Beside her she heard Beetlejuice laughing at her. "You're only laughing because your hair is too dirty to even move."

"Jokes on you, it's clean," He snarked back.

Lydia used one hand to move her hair back away from her face once the wind settled down and glanced over to Beetlejuice. Sure enough his hair, which was indeed clean, looked pretty much the same, only a little mused by the wind. Her own hair probably looked like a birds nest now. "Point taken."

"Were you being serious?" BJ asked, almost out of the blue.

Lydia blinked and tilted her head almost comedically. "About what?"

"Coming up here just to..come up here? To hang out?"

"Of course," She replied quizzically.

"Huh." Beej looked up at the sky again, eyes wide and pupils thin slits. Almost as if he could barely believe her. "Thanks."

"Of course," Lydia replied more certainly, a grin making its way onto her face, "That's what friends are for."

And if they spent half the day taking useless pictures and bickering at each other, who was to know?

It turns out friendship was a wake up call, too.


End file.
